AIMA: Global hedge fund industry employs 300,000 people

Opalesque Industry Update - The world’s hedge fund industry employs an estimated 300,000 people. That’s according to the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association. It’s the first time the number of jobs created by the sector globally has been assessed.

AIMA produced the figures after surveying its members internationally. AIMA has more than 1200 corporate members in more than 40 countries. Its hedge fund manager members manage in excess of 75% of global hedge fund assets and 70% of global fund of hedge funds assets.

The regional breakdown of the figures is 240,000 in North America, 50,000 in Europe and 10,000 in Asia-Pacific. The totals include both those employed directly within the hedge fund sector and those jobs generated by the industry among service providers like administrators, lawyers and accountants. The ratio of direct jobs to indirect jobs was found by AIMA to be generally 1:2, so the number of direct jobs within the industry globally is 100,000 with a further 200,000 indirect jobs generated by the industry.

AIMA CEO Andrew Baker said: “It is striking that hedge fund industry managers generate an additional two jobs among service providers for every job in the sector. That means that the industry is creating significant additional employment in the jurisdictions in which it operates, including in the EU, Switzerland, the United States and Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Australia.

“The estimated figure of 300,000 jobs generated globally is a significant one and it demonstrates the importance of the industry to the broader economy in the many jurisdictions in which the industry is based. It shows that the hedge fund industry provides value not only to its investors and to the markets in which it operates, but to the communities where its employees work.”